Sunday, January 06, 2008

Iain McKie - Foundation of Scotland's legal system is under threat

For those who know the culture of injustice which Scotland's justice system has now become, Iain McKie has come out with a slamming indictment of the problems in Scots Law today, which have been left to fester at the hands of politicians unwilling to reform the legal system while the legal establishment has essentially been left to run itself, becoming too used to a lack of accountability in their actions to seemingly do as they please, and ruin a few lives in the process ...

IAIN MCKIE, father of former detective Shirley McKie, from Ayr, warns the forensic foundation of our entire legal system is under threat.

FOR well over a century police, lawyers, judges and juries have accepted forensic evidence without question. But now as "light is being let in on the magic", fingerprinting, DNA, footwear, firearm and the other such evidence is being challenged and found wanting.

The Omagh bombing, the World's End Murders, the Templeton Woods murder and the SCRO fingerprint case have all shown that previously infallible evidence is indeed fallible and finally the prosecution system is being forced to review its whole forensic strategy (your report, 22 December).

While this is bad enough, Lockerbie and other cases have also revealed evidence of police and Crown Office incompetence, political intrigue and a court and legal system struggling to cope.

A system where justice takes forever and at a prohibitive cost. Slowly the realisation is dawning that we are faced with a justice system no longer fit for purpose. A system where there is very real danger of the innocent being found guilty and the guilty escaping punishment. Instead of the usual face saving "first aid" aimed at preserving the power and privilege of those within the system, the time is long overdue for broad ranging public and political debate aimed at creating an open, accountable and accessible system

2 comments:

Scotlaw
said...

It would seem that the powers that be are not willing to allow the Scotsman to run comments on this article.After the following comments all comments have been removed.Wonder how much involvement Latimer had in this process.

Comments removed:14 Dangerous Assumptions,Scotland 05/01/2008 07:44:19 This comment may seem suject and emotive but I need to share with anyone willing to hear. As children we are brought up in trust and believe in social norms. The Police are the good guys ,they catch the bad guys,you know the sort of stuff that TV and media reinforces every day.The impact upon a person (in my own case my thirteen year old daughter) when she sought assistance and support from the authorities following being raped and subjected to horrific sexual abuse has left her totally mis trusting of the world. The whole concept of of forensic evidence in my child's case was a joke. She reported the bite marks on her back ,the area in which attack occurred yet the marks faded away without a medical being arranged for a year and the area in which the crime happened never being examined for Forensic evidence. See if you truly wanted to catch a criminal then you follow through the procedures at the very least!!!!! Her statement was changed to beyond recognition, papers lost and evidence on sim cards never followed through. Even a letter from another young person stating they the rapist had previously "held me down while an another adult raped me" was ignored. It is so very strange that these Police Officers are concentrated around the same area. Maybe its because they are so lacking in training it has left them unable to detect their way around lego land or perhaps that their very poor detective skills are more by design! Which begs the question to WHO are they actually policing the public or particular and important members of the public.In the scheme of things the monster that raped my child was a tiny little fish but with a lot of knowledge on other happenings on much bigger fish and life is sweet for him, safe in the knowledge he can pick and choose his victims without redress.I dared to challenge them and the Police have made every attempt to wreck my life, my profession, my family and silence my daughter.I have some very interesting audio tapes of Police Report Unsuitable 15 Dangerous Assumptions,05/01/2008 08:20:46 continued from previous:bullying and intimidating a 14 year old child who was diagnosed with PTSD, what big brave policemen you are!As for the community of Wick, well reflective of the three monkeys see nothing ,hear nothing and speak nothing, cant blame them really wouldnt wish this experience on anyone.The people of Scotland appear to have to wait decades for justice (usually when some criminal has dropped dead or at the end of their full life) Forensic evidence is helpful when used appropriately and justly , it is also helpful if actually gathered properly or at all!!!!. PF's and Police hold far too much Power and should you wish to challenge thats ok because they simply investigate themselves with the outcome always being they are Right---good system init?. As a professional person myself I recall lots of reports coming into me about child victims of sexual abuse where the Police had No further Actioned cases as the child was either a Compulsive Liar or the Child had Mental Health difficulties ,all I can comment is that there were an awful lot of mentally ill liars in one tiny area !!!and an awful lot of of Police officers with specialized forensic child mental health training in one tiny area (not).I recall forensic evidence being gathered when a youth spat on a car ummm but got a conviction for that one didn't you boys and that really made a difference!the victims of crimes and the victims of injustice attempt to pick up the what left of their lives while the grief trauma loss and pain remains, but its all in a good cause for the criminals and corrupt can sleep peacefully knowing they have the full protection of the law!

Certainly Wick Police have not only the McLoed case to answer to but now this one surfaces.How many more are out there.

For those who know nothing of Kevin McLoed his case can be found at shirleymckiefastforum and i have been informed his family are actually meeting with Northern Constabulary tomorrow Wed 9th Jan 2008.